Launch 2 studies on healthy aging in Jakarta in 2024

The Human Nutrition Research Center (HNRC) and the Metabolic Disorder, Cardiovascular and Aging Research Center (MVA) of the Indonesian Medical Education and Research Institute Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia (IMERI FMUI) recognise the importance of providing high-quality studies to effectively address malnutrition in vulnerable populations. Multidisciplinary collaboration throughout project development and implementation is imperative to provide a comprehensive approach to tackling the complexities of malnutrition. Hence, we will establish collaborations with national and international partner institutions, such as central and local governments, schools and communities, hospitals, national universities (Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universitas Airlangga), international universities (University of Oxford, University of Melbourne, University of California at Davis, Wageningen University & Research, Mahidol University, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University), research centres and laboratories, UN agencies, nongovernmental organisations, philanthropies and the private sector.

Studies will focus on early life and adolescence, prevention of adult obesity and prediabetes progression and healthy ageing and nutrition. Studies on early life will emphasise the impact of nutrition interventions – through the promotion of gut microbiota and education on maternal and child nutritional and immune status – on child cognitive development to support thriving generations. Importantly, studies will utilise innovative tools and interventions, such as delivering nutrition education through mobile applications for the prediabetes study, and novel approaches to tailored supplement combinations. Moreover, we will enrich the concept and innovations on the gut-brain axis and the gut-lung axis as the emerging focuses of nutrition-related intervention. Particularly, as a response to the current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, we will explore the potential nutrient intervention on the gut-lung axis that may modulate the lung immunity and Covid-19 pathogenicity. We also aim to advance the tools for outcome assessments, such as eye-tracking tasks and fetal magnetic resonance imaging, to evaluate the impact of nutrition interventions on child brain development. Studies will integrate a community development approach by providing healthy eating modules to all subjects. Real-time data will be collected by utilising information technology and paperless methods in the field. Alongside the proposed projects targeting 10,000 individuals, we will develop several systematic reviews and meta-analyses to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the topics that also involve the young scientists.

Action plans will include proposal development involving multidisciplinary teams and experts, grant submissions to national and international funders in the first and second years, regular monitoring and reporting in monthly meetings of the IMERI FMUI throughout the project implementation and results dissemination through international publication, paper launching and conferences attended by local and national government partners targeted in 2025.